In The Shadow Forest
by AsaHane
Summary: Because Xemnas doesn't want to do his own dirty work, he sends Roxas out with Axel on a mission. The two of them get stuck alone together in a strange world, and a few things come to light for them. Prize for Hikari of the Moon. OneShot. AkuRoku.


**Author's Notes: **This is the one-shot written for **Hikari of the Moon** who got my fifty review one-shot thingy for my story I'm Still Here. She requested AkuRoku fluff, and this is the idea that sprung up, out of the confines of my dead mind. It's a little weird… but I hope it's okay!

It's a bit pointless… but I kinda like it - I hope you enjoy it, **Hikari of the Moon**! And thank you so much for being one of my most faithful reviewers!

P.S: And please no flaming about AkuRoku being bad! I'll just ignore it.

**Disclaimer: **Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Squenix, not moi.

* * *

**One-Shot**

In the Shadow Forest 

* * *

Saix turned and looked at Roxas as he returned from his latest mission. He smirked when he noticed the youngest member was dripping wet from the rain outside, and he still had yet to remove his hood. 

"Did everything go well?" Saix asked, returning to his task. He was just finishing up the repairs on the wards on their castle in the World That Never Was, to keep the heartless from crawling wherever they liked.

"The hearts are sent towards unlocking Kingdom Hearts." Roxas said, and shook his hood off. He didn't even look tired. "If the food done?"

Saix grunted and flicked a finger, fitting the ward into place. "Yes."

Roxas nodded and walked passed, tracking water behind him. Saix scowled and moved to clean it. Xemnas had always hated getting his precious castle dirty.

----------------

Roxas climbed the stairs up to the superior's area of the castle, making sure to shake off as much water as he could. It was always amusing to watch Xemnas rage about how his castle was supposed to be clean.

He pushed through Xemnas doors and walked in, stopping at the place that the superior designated the right place to stop walking in his presence. He was up there on his throne, leaning on one arm and smirking down at him. Roxas held a scowl. If he could feel anger anymore, he would have hated Xemnas, if only because he was a smug bastard.

"Ah, Roxas welcome back," He said in his deep voice once Roxas had stopped walking. "So what is your report?"

"They have succumbed to darkness, all three of the targets you assigned to me." Roxas reported in deadpan, gazing at Xemnas shoes. Really, Xemnas should be used to this by now. Roxas always had the name report to give whenever Xemnas sent him out of the castle for a mission.

"Good," Xemnas chuckled. "Now, I have another assignment for you."

Roxas hid an internal groan. _But I just got_ back _from one!_ But outside, he was the perfect little nobody. "What it is, superior?"

"You will team up with Axel tomorrow and retrieve more hearts. You should be able to handle more with Axel watching your back."

Roxas sighed. Axel was always annoying, but he could put up with him. "Yes sir."

Xemnas nodded and sent him away with a wave of his hand. Roxas scowled (internally) and turned away. Well, at least he had dinner waiting.

* * *

"Burn baby, burn!" 

Roxas tried to tune out Axel's manic laughter as he slashed at a new group of heartless. He still didn't understand how the superior knew where they would appear, but he wasn't going to ask. Xemnas could get nasty when you asked questions he didn't want to answer.

Roxas cursed as some of Axel's fire destroyed a few heartless. "You idiot! I told you not to destroy them! The keyblade's are the only things that unlock the hearts."

Axel just spun around and gave him a rather nasty grin, and then pranced off to flame more heartless into the circle he'd created around the both of them. Roxas rolled his eyes and returned to destroying the heartless. Out of everyone in Organization XIII, Axel was the only one Roxas really got along with. He'd worked with each of the nobodies at least once, and no one complimented his fighting style like Axel did.

Axel could predict where he was going to attack next, and prance out of the way, while Demyx or Xigbar would just ignore him and not move until he rammed them with his shoulder and told them to. Saix was the worst—always thinking he knew better than everyone else, and Xaldin would rather stare around in boredom than help.

But Axel, he could chase the heartless with his fire, corral them into a ring where Roxas could deal with the group easily, and then corral more as he moved around. It was the perfect combination.

Roxas could put up with Axel's bouts of laughter as he fought. It had never really bothered him anyway, though everyone else felt that it was annoying as hell. He'd always enjoyed watching Saix's eyebrow twitch, and Demyx send daggers through his eyes towards the red-heads location

He spun out of one ring of fire and searched for the next, only to find that there wasn't one. He stopped for a moment, feeling like he'd been slapped in the face.

Then Axel grabbed him from behind and squeezed him.

"Axel, get you're fucking hands off me!" Roxas snapped, struggling. Axel only chuckled into his ear and hugged him tighter.

"You're so cool Roxy," he said, and then let him go. Roxas tore away from him and vanished the keyblade's, brushing off his shoulders as if Axel had contaminated him with dirt. "Always so fast."

Roxas scowled at Axel and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Come on, the superior is waiting." He turned and made to walk down the street, gathering power to summon one of the darkness vortexes that would send him back to the castle. But he paused and looked over his shoulder.

Axel was just standing there, looking at him with a creepy smile on his face. Roxas scowled and lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

Axel just grinned and shrugged. "Nothin'." Then he pranced up to Roxas and cast the vortex himself, taking a deep bow. "You first."

Roxas rolled his eyes again and stepped through, wondering why Axel was so weird. It wasn't like they had emotions, really, but Axel liked to pretend more than the others.

* * *

The next day, the superior once again sent Roxas out on a mission, once again paired with Axel, and sent to the world that seemed to consist only of a forest. He'd been here numerous times, and out of every place he'd been to before, it was the strangest. There were always multitudes of heartless here, and that was why he suspected Xemnas had sent him so often. 

This world was nothing but cool darkness. In the sky was a thread of stars and a moon that gave just enough light to see by, but that was all. The darkness never changed, and night never turned to day. The trees seemed to have lives of their own here, and they would sway as he walked by, never before or after.

He hadn't ever really gone far from this spot, and he didn't plan to either. A world where he knew nothing was a world full of danger.

As he stepped out of the vortex the heartless appeared, and he and Axel got to work destroying as many as possible. Axel had never been here before, and his fire lit up the darkness, giving things light that Roxas suspected had never had light before.

He didn't know how long they fought. It had become almost routine, really, destroying the heartless and collecting hearts. He only stopped when Axel's rings of fire stopped coming to life, and then dismissed the keyblade's.

He turned to Axel and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a deafening roar of anger. Roxas spun on his heel and looked around, and then leaped out of the way just in time for the large body of a—a something to land right in the place he had been.

He jumped quickly away and stood beside Axel, tensing his arms to call the keyblade's again.

They wouldn't come.

"What the hell?" He hissed. He tried again, but nothing appeared. It felt as if something had blocked him from sending out the call.

"I can't call fire either," Axel confessed. He still had his chakrams, but without the fire and the magic to guide them, Roxas knew they were almost useless.

All of this happened within a moment, for the creature reared it's head and brought their attention back to it.

It threw out a pair of wings and had them hover in the air, making the creature look bigger than it really was. It looked like a serpent, with a long, flexing body, but it had four legs. It's front paws were a pair of dragon-like talons covered in glinting blue scales, and it's back paws like those of a lion.

The creature was covered in a thick, white fur throughout its entire body, and it had a head perched on a long serpentine neck, with a long snout that had almost lion characteristics to it. It's eyes were pure black, save a pupil of ice blue that rolled around and searched them out and large, deer like ears that were hugged but a pair of curling horns that resembled those of a ram.

A mane of thick blue hair spouted from the top of its head, slipping between it's horns and hiding it's eyes in an almost human-like gesture, and then followed the curve of it's spine, stopping at the base of an extremely long, whip like tail that lashed through the air, and had a huge tuft of the blue mane at the end, like a horses tail.

Roxas had never seen a creature like this before. He knew it was probably native to this world, and was neither heartless nor nobody. What made him start though, was the sentience in its gaze as it stared down at them, baring razor sharp teeth and letting a long tongue loll from it's mouth.

_You have come to my forest plenty of times before,_ said a voice in his head. Roxas narrowed his eyes. The voice was deep, but had a bit of youth mixed into it, and it was oddly human. _I have allowed you to pass on my own violation, because those disgusting creatures are annoyances to everyone here. But now you dare to set fire to this place?_ The creature's fang's showed more, and a deep growl rang through the air. _I will not allow such destruction._

Thinking quickly, Roxas grabbed Axel's wrist and dragged him towards the forest. The creature roared in anger, and Roxas heard the sound of beating wings as he ran, releasing Axel's wrist when he suspected the red-head would run on his own.

"Call a vortex," He said, looking back at Axel. The red-head grunted.

"Already tried. That thing blocks magic."

Roxas cursed and sped up as the sound of wings grew closer. He jumped over logs and dodged around high bushes, and all the while it was getting harder and harder to see. He heard Axel cry out suddenly, and then his arm was grabbed, and Axel _pulled_.

They rolled into a clearing that was glowing a faint blue. Roxas gasped as he landed on top of Axel, and sat there for a moment to regain his bearings. He snarled and pushed against Axel a little harder than necessary as he jumped up, scanning the sky for the creature.

It was hovering in a circle not too far away, an angry snarl on it's mouth. It shook its head, and then disappeared into the forest. Roxas could hear it pacing the edges of the clearing, never coming any closer. He sighed, and let his body drop to the grass of the clearing. It seemed that the creature couldn't touch them here.

"This is all _your_ fault." He said, and tuned to glare at Axel. If he could feel irritation, he would be really irritated right now. Axel just grinned and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, I guess we're stuck here then." He shrugged, and followed Roxas's example by flopping into the grass as well. "Until that thing goes away."

Roxas scowled at him and turned to take a good look at the clearing they'd landed themselves in. It wasn't more a bit of grass with a rather small lake, flanked by trees. That was where the ice-blue light was coming from. The lake glowed gently, making everything around it glow as well, and providing something that felt almost like moonlight.

Roxas stood up and walked closer to Axel before he sat down again. The lake was silent and unmoving, like the rest of the forest. There was no sound, except for the angry crunches and snaps that came from the direction of the creature prowling the outskirts of the clearing. With that thing around, blocking the magic, they wouldn't be able to go home.

Roxas heaved a sigh and fell back against the blue tinged grass, closing his eyes. He had a feeling that they'd be waiting a while.

And he lay there for what felt like maybe five minutes before a shuffle at his side caught his attention. He opened his eyes slowly, and found Axel hovering over him, staring.

"What?" he grunted, and Axel smirked, his green eyes glinting.

"I'm bored."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "It's only been five minutes."

"Yes, but I'm still bored." He cocked his head and continued to stare down at Roxas. The blond scowled.

"Am I more interesting to look at than the lake?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

Roxas scowled and could only stare up at him, confused. He didn't know what was so interesting about himself. He rather thought the lake would be better to stare at.

"Wanna make-out?" Axel asked, blinking. For a moment Roxas blinked too.

"Isn't that what humans do with girls they like?" He frowned. "I'm pretty sure I'm not a girl."

"That's not the point!" Axel moaned, rolling his eyes. "It'll give us something to do. Maybe that thing will get annoyed and leave."

Roxas only scowled further, and then rolled his eyes once again. "Whatever."

Axel gave a huge grin, as if someone had given him a new pair of chakrams, and then leaned down. His lips barely brushed Roxas's, and the blond found that sensation oddly pleasant.

Then the red head bent his head a little more, and sealed his mouth over Roxas's. It was… warm. Roxas couldn't remember ever being kissed before, so it was new to him. And interesting.

He pushed back against Axel's mouth and tilted his head slightly. He felt Axel move over him, and then the kiss deepened and one of Axel's hands found its way into his hair. A moan slid out of Roxas's throat, and as he pulled back and opened his mouth to gasp in some air, Axel caught him open-mouthed, and slid his tongue inside.

_That_ was an odd sensation. Roxas let his arms wrap around Axel's shoulders, and his body arch up as he toyed with the red-heads tongue. It felt good, in the physical sense, since he didn't have emotions. He let his tongue twine with Axel's, and then decided to explore Axel's mouth of his own accord.

He had to pull back to breath for a second, and then Axel mashed their lips together in something far rougher than before.

Axel's arms had slipped behind Roxas, and he was holding onto the blond as if he would never let go. Roxas found himself holding Axel back just as fiercely, trying to feel more of him as they fought a battle with the mouths. His body quivered with warmth and pleasure, and he wanted to get closer to Axel, and to feel more of the warmth coming from him.

Axel's mouth slid off his, and the red-head dipped his head to gently nibble his earlobe. He pressed soft, butterfly kisses down Roxas neck, nudging his head back with his nose. Roxas obliged, laying there and panting in the blue light from the lake in the strange world of darkness.

He didn't know how long they were like that. They traded kisses and touches for a while, and even though it felt unbearably good, Roxas kept a little bit of attention on the sound of crunching feet as the creature paced.

Axel was softly tonguing his throat when the sounds stopped, and the flap of wings broke through the air. He looked up, in a haze, and watched as the creature flew off. Axel had stopped kissing him so that he could watch it go, and then sighed softly. "Must have got tired of watching."

Roxas grunted and pushed himself out of Axel's arms. "We'd better get back."

Axel whined as he lost the heat of Roxas's body. "But didn't you like that?"

Roxas sighed and straightened his cloak and patted his hair back down. He didn't think he could help the bite marks Axel had left on his neck though.

"It felt good, but duty goes ahead of pleasure." He looked down at Axel, and then cast a vortex. "Maybe we can do it later."

Axel grinned and stood up, dusting off his clothes. "I'd like that."

Roxas could only roll his eyes and shake his head as he stepped through the vortex.

Later would be sooner than Axel probably thought, if Roxas got his way.

**Owari.**


End file.
